Imagine being in the
passenger seat of a car on a quiet street in Atlanta.At about 4:00
A.M. a cell phone begins to ring; then the driver reaches down to
grab the phone. Within the next few moments, the driver loses control of the
car.The car wraps around a telephone
poll. This isn’t a dream. In fact, it was reality for model Niki
Taylor in May of 2001. According to the USA Today, Niki
Taylor was seriously injured in this accident with extensive damage to her
liver and abdomen.

Most people who remember
this incident might not know that the cause of it was a cell-phone. This
accident, however, is just one example of the dangers that are involved when
someone uses their cell phone while operating a motor vehicle.

Many people just sit back
and think that this could never happen to them, but have they ever thought
about how well they really pay attention to the road when they are on their
cell-phone?It is proven that people talking
on their cell phone cannot fully control his/her
vehicle while moving stated in the Consumers Research Magazine. The use of a
cell phone also can reduce the driver's physical control--one hand on the
steering wheel, one hand on the phone--which reduces response capability during
an emergency.

Cell phones have
become increasingly popular over the years especially through college age
students. Most college students cannot afford to pay a phone bill at their
house or in their dorm, so they keep a cell phone to talk to friends or family back
home. According to National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), drivers between the ages of 20 and 54 accounted for 81
percent of the accidents reviewed. Some 72 percent of those talking on a cell
phone at the time of accident were male, 28 percent were female; among these
two groups, 24 percent were professional persons and 76 percent were people
just calling friends, family or just taking care of personal business. According
to these statistics 76 percent are college age students, which is why, cell
phone use while driving is a subject of concern.

This issue is very widely
debated and commonly argued. There are many approaches people could take on
this subject: safety approach, a technology approach and also an educational
approach. A safety approach is defined when many states and various counties
have chosen to enact laws that prohibit the use of cell phones while driving.
If this law is broken, a substantial fine will be given to the violator.
According to the Canarsie Courier,
New York became the first state in the
nation to enact a ban on the use of a hand-held cell
phones while driving on all public highways except in the case of an emergency.
Governor Pataki claims, “ by requiring drivers to put
down their cell phones and pay attention to the road, this new law will help
make our roads safer and save lives.”

Although
all states have laws regarding reckless or careless driving, few have specific
legislation to govern use of cell phones while driving. Currently, only California, Florida and Massachusetts impose restrictions. For example, in Massachusetts, car phones are permitted provided their use does not
interfere with vehicle operation and drivers keep one hand on the wheel at all
times (National Conference for State Legislatures.) But some states like California, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Texas, currently require police to include information about
cell phones in accident reports. Yet, Tennessee requires some law enforcement agencies to collect data
about cell phone involvement in crashes (NCSL).

This
would be an example of the educational approaches states have tried to take. It
has been proven that on many of the police reports talking on cell phones are
not an option for the cause of the accident. If police officers ask at
the scene of the accident if a cell phone was involved or are forced to include
that information in a report, this would help keep better track of the statistics of car accidents that include cell phones.At the scene of the accident every officer
would have to give an additional ticket and fine to the driver if the cause was
related to a cell phone.

The technology approach is
another common approach to this subject. It would be the requirement of all
drivers to use hands-free cell phone devices while operating a vehicle.Like in Brooklyn,
OH; Lebanon,
PA; Marlboro, NJ; Brookline,
MA; and Westchester
County, NY; there is no fine or
ticket on the driver, it is just a safety requirement for all drivers with cell
phones to use headset. Other cities and states like Aspen,
CO; Boca Raton,
FL; Santa Monica,
CA; Philadelphia,
Cleveland; and ChicagoIL are also considering similar
requirements.

There also have been many
arguments to this approach.Many people
have done studies on hands-free headsets, and they found that it is not any
safer than hand held cell phones. Using a hands-free cell
phone while driving still interferes with the ability to maneuver a vehicle
safely, according to several new tests.In
2001, David L. Strayer of the University of Utah in
Salt Lake City and his colleagues reported that people talking on either
hand-held or hands-free cell phones during simulated driving test, ran red
lights more often and reacted more slowly to traffic signals than when not
talking on a phone. No such problems occurred for drivers who either talked
with a passenger or listened to the radio or to books on tape.

In new investigations led by Strayer,
110 college students operating a driving simulator caused more rear-end
collisions and reacted more slowly to vehicles braking in front of them during
periods when they talked on a hands free cell phone. The worst impairments
occurred while driving in heavy traffic, the researchers report in the March
Journal of Experimental Psychology: applied, cell-phone conversations
restricted the attention required to notice important driving cues, Strayer holds. For instance, immediately after taking
simulated drives past a series of billboards, volunteers could recall fewer of
the signs if they had been talking on a hands-free cell phone. Yet eye-tracking
tests showed that drivers looked directly at two-thirds of the billboards,
whether or not they used a cell phone.The results of these tests would leave many people to believe that the
laws that just require people to use hand-free headsets are not effective. Many
people state that “if there is going to be a ban on cell phone it should be on
hand-held and hand-free.”

Many other people argue that distractions in a vehicle go
far beyond cell phones. University
of North Carolina Highway
Safety Research
Center said other distractions such as eating, talking, and adjusting controls
on radio or CD players are far more likely to result in crashes.Many studies have found that close to 4,600
accidents are caused each and every day by people who are distracted. That’s 30
to 40 percent of all accidents that occur are based on distractions. “ Efforts to educate drivers about the dangers of all
distractions while driving would do more than a law restricting cell phone use,
said Dee Yankoskie, a spokeswoman for the Cellular
telecommunication & Internet Association.

Too many
families have suffered the tragedy of seeing a loved one injured –sometimes
fatally- in an accident caused by someone who was driving and was using a cell
phone. This is a serious issue that can affect many people’s lives in many
different ways.Niki
Taylor’s accident left her fighting for her life — with just a 1 in 10 chance
of survival. Now, 41 operations later, she is making progress. Instead of hoping that everyone will be as lucky as Niki Taylor, we should make a change,
take a stand for the safety of drivers everywhere. So the next time a cell
phone is being used for conversation that is not an emergency hopefully people
will think twice about what could happened.